Bali - Day 2

We arrived!!! Bali our second destination in as many days. We flew into to Bali rather late maybe around midnight. The weather in Hong Kong delayed us a bit. We were happy it started to rain after we left the city but not so happy to be flying in it. Luckily we did not experience any problems. When we got off the plane we made our way to immigration where we had to stand in line for like an hour and a half. Way too long. Of course we just so happened to be next to a family of Koreans and just had to laugh, thinking we just can't even get away from Korea for a day. Anyway once to the front of the line we got our visas and stamp and made our way to the taxi line. We had the address of our hotel and they new where it was, thankfully. It was about a ten minute ride and we were there. It only cost around five dollars.
Our hotel was relatively new and looked nice on the outside. It was called Tune Hotel. Once we stepped into the room it felt as if we were in a closet, a really small one. Latanya's claustrophobia kicked in immediately. I had to assure her it would be doable. We knew it was a small space when we booked it but also knew that it was only for a two nights. She handled it quite well I must say.
The next morning we woke up and headed straight for the beach. We realized right away that Kuta, the area we were staying was everything we had read was. It's a backpackers and surfers haven. It was not a place for resort style relaxing. The streets were relatively dirty yet the people were friendly. On the way to the beach we past many stalls selling you name it. They all asked if we wanted to buy something and we kindly said no thank you. This would be a phrase we would be repeating for the rest of our trip.
After about a five minute walk we arrived to the beach. It was a beautiful sight. We normally don't go this long without going to the beach. It had been over five months. I was starting to look too pale and even sickly (take a look at the picture in the Vacation Overview post, you will know what I mean). The Kuta beach was really long and wide. The sand was nice and the water looked very inviting. It really reminded us of beaches in Southern California. Except instead of the Pacific Ocean we were starring at the Indian Ocean. We walked the beach for a little while and then stopped at a convenience store for some water and free WiFi. We got a message from our friends Jess and Fran. So we messaged them back and decided to meet them a little later on.
Latanya and I were sharing a coffee when Fran came walking up. We were so excited to see him. Jess was just around the corner we were equally excited to see her too. Jess and Fran were our neighbors in Korea and had been traveling since they left in June. It was great just sitting and catching up. Jess had hurt her foot in Cambodia and had her pinkie toe and ankle wrapped in gauze. So now Latanya had a companion because of her swollen foot. Unfortunately Jess was not able to go into the water or on the sand at this point of their Bali trip.
After awhile of talking we all took a stroll to see a monument. We then headed for some dinner and a drink. It was a great meal and we got to hear all about what our friends had been experiencing. After dinner they took us to their hotel and then headed to Sanur, another area on the island via taxi. They had no accommodation booked and were getting a little nervous because most places were booked due to it being the high tourist season.
Once we departed, Latanya and I went back to the beach and took in a magnificent sunset. Much like ours back home it was truly amazing. The colors were spectacular and the ambiance was perfect. Latanya and I just sat on the beach until it went dark. Once the sun goes down the Kuta area really gets started. The bars and clubs really started to pump. We decided to just hit up a bar for happy hour and relaxed. I had a few Bintangs, an Indonesian beer and Latayna a few watered down cocktails. We called it an early evening and headed back to our closet for one more night. I wanted to get a good night's rest because tomorrow I was going to surf!